Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation- Volume 2- Part 1

caused varying reactions within the Department of
State. U. S. Ambassador, Thomas Whelan, was a strong
supporter of the Somoza government; and, consequently,
looked with great favor on the Agencyls attempts to
negotiate directly with Somoza, believing that this
was a proper step, not only from the US point of view
vis-a-vis Cuba, but also in terms of our relations
with the government of Nicaragua. 17/ On the other
hand, Thomas Mann, 18/ the Assistant Secretary of
State for Inter American Affairs, preferred to tread
very cautiously with regard to Nicaragua; adhering
to the formalities of diplomatic nicety vis-a-vis that
government. Within the Agency itself, Mr. Bissell's
Assistant Deputy Director of Plans for Action (ADDP/A),
C. Tracy Barnes, was apparently nervous about the
implications of using the Nicaraguan site because
Somoza was such a bad guy; and Barnes at one point\
stated that "in the long run, we would lose an unac-
ceptable amount of face with these (more democratic?]
countries" in Central America if we worked closely
with Somoza. 19/ Barnes, however, did realize the
urgent need for developing a strike base.
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